22/09/2025
“The Constitution of Nepal, 2016” has slipped into a coma
By Yug Pathak
“The Constitution of Nepal, 2016” has slipped into a coma. If it returns from the coma, that will be a historic opportunity.
Some things have reached an end in the storm around the Gen-Z movement:
The excess of despair and anger has ended. From now on, for an unknown period, the idea that “the people are despondent and enraged” will no longer dominate the public sphere.
The dominance of the three supremos of the three major parties has ended.
The political “cult” around Rabi Lamichhane and Rastriya Swatantra Party has come to an end.
B***n’s “independent” image has also ended.
Two Different Scenes
The two days of the Gen-Z movement, 8 and 9 September, have been recorded in history as two different scenes. On 8 September, the day the KP Oli government of the Nepali Congress–CPN-UML alliance fell, the Gen-Z uprising rose up and met with violent state repression and the brutal killing of young people. On 10 September, the core sites of the existing system, the executive at Singha Durbar, the legislature at the Parliament building, the judiciary at the Supreme Court building, and the institution of the President at Sheetal Niwas, were burned to ashes. On that same day, the offices of political parties and the homes of leaders that were torched came to be treated as institutional centers of the democratic system.
As a result, the self-sacrificing movement of the Gen-Z generation, which had shaken power from the roots, gave way on the 10th to a situation akin to an insurrection. The sky over Kathmandu was choked with dreadful smoke on that terrible day of destruction, when many people were burned alive. In other cities too, people were burned to death in the fires. The leaders of the movement formally acknowledged that there had been infiltration, yet the sequence of events shows this was not ordinary infiltration.
Immediately after taking office, Interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki expressed concern about a “planned conspiracy.” This was no trivial matter. On that day, public anger toward both state power and party power also erupted into the open.
Why did the government carry out such extreme killings on the first day of the movement? No one has an answer. The top leaders who were reduced to dust in disgrace and who have still not returned to public life likely have no answer either. And on the 10th, were those who roared, looted, and filmed the events truly the ones who carried out all of the destruction? Did the planners who deliberately attacked the symbols of the democratic republic ever show their faces while doing so? The answers to these questions will likely vanish in darkness, just as in the royal palace massacre. What happened has become history.
History cannot be changed, only learned from. If you wish not to accumulate too much sorrow, grasp one thing clearly: on the day the pillars of this system collapsed, and on the day a government was formed outside the Constitution, the existing system and its foundational Constitution slipped into a coma.
When a movement must be met by standing on the Constitution, it sends a clear message, the system itself has entered crisis. This is the lesson from the history of all movements. The events of day two of the Gen-Z movement may seem dramatic, ruthless, and like a coup. Since the Interim Prime Minister has promised an inquiry, however, some political space still remains.
For that reason, it is still possible to hold a faint belief that the Constitution and the federal democratic republican order remain alive. Otherwise, one would have to say that the government led by Sushila Karki has been formed solely on the basis of the movement’s mandate, not on any constitutional provisions. It is also quite clear that ministers are being appointed through an opaque division of power. If we keep our heads, and avoid emotional reactions, future grief will be lighter.
The Movement’s Imprint
When a movement passes like a storm, its footprints are visible. The Gen-Z movement has left such marks. First, it has pushed the country into an unprecedented crisis and has placed the very existence of the Constitution in question. Second, for now, it is setting aside the paradigm of despair and anger and is encouraging everyone to look toward the future.
In the same way, it has forced the major political forces into a defensive posture. It has nearly ended the dominance of top leaders of the main parties. And the one-track “cult” around Rabi Lamichhane, built since the formation of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, has been reduced to dust.
Yet the movement’s limitations have also been laid bare in frightening ways. In Kathmandu’s Maitighar, protests on various issues and grievances happen almost daily. Not long ago, thousands of teachers filled the streets from Maitighar to Baneshwar and challenged the state. Citizen movements, protests against meter-based extortion, movements of sugarcane farmers, and many more turned Maitighar into a space for citizens’ protests and voices.
Those small and large movements had clear agendas, leadership, and, however imperfect, organization. The Gen-Z movement had neither a clear organization nor leadership. It had agendas, but these were largely policy and procedural grievances produced by the daily life of politics.
When the “conspiracy” to destroy the state system was staged beyond the movement’s limits, the Gen-Z protesters had no mechanism to manage or counter it. After the state system was overturned and the army tried to coordinate talks, there was still no clear leadership or representative. Then the protesters turned into “brothers and sisters,” or were made into that. At that very point, Mayor B***n’s “independent” image collapsed. The celebrity persona whose face was once pasted on cars is gone. He has become a player in political polarization.
The Villain Parties
This movement has turned the parties that steered the federal democratic republic into the villains. Why and how did such an awkward situation arise? Without a proper investigation, any discussion will be nothing more than a few days of emotional agitation. It will not take society a single step forward. We should not immediately indulge in despair, and no one has the courage right now to say “whoever comes, they are all the same.”
An interim government has been formed under pressure from the movement. The balance of politics has been upended. Our habit is to say “we will not be negative now,” while cultivating explosive anger for the future. History does not show that this habit has ever produced useful results or made society creative.
In any case, one truth is clear. Today, the parties are known as villains. How did the parties that fought all autocracy and risked their lives to bring society into the light of freedom and change suddenly become villains? We will discuss this in detail. For now, a few symbolic points.
We must not forget that the Constitution faced rejection in the Madhes region at the very time of its promulgation. Marginalized groups, including Janajatis, women, and Dalits, did not agree to full ownership of it. The Maoists also had their long dissent recorded in the Constitution.
The very promise of state restructuring stated in the Interim Constitution of 2006 was largely abandoned by the Nepali Congress and the UML when the Constitution was drafted. Hence, from the outset, this Constitution could not secure broad acceptance from its own people.
Even so, the work of state restructuring could have been developed in tandem with daily politics and the state’s role. The major parties left no stone unturned in turning politics into a thoughtless and mechanical tug-of-war. The culture of the Rana era was still alive in our state machinery. As Dor Bahadur Bista explained, the culture of nepotism, patronage, opportunism, servility, and flattery was transferred from the Panchayat era.
As a result, corruption, misgovernance, and an authoritarian style of rule persisted. No creative effort was made to change this pattern. That character became institutionalized not only in governance and administration, but inside the parties as well. Even the Maoists, a party that came from rebellion, have admitted in their own documents that this culture spread within them.
In the end, ideology is decisive. The ideas that have taken root will shape behavior in society. If parties reach the point where they abandon, rather than apply, the ideals they themselves accepted and wrote into their documents, they inevitably become a new shadow of the old power. One does not need to read history to see and experience the character of the old power. The principles of the democratic republic provide the standard for judgment. Not only Gen-Z, the entire public can sense it easily. Where someone’s children study or what they wear are surface signs. The real disease is ideology once again.
The B***n Factor
It is impossible to understand the Gen-Z movement while ignoring the B***n factor. The call to protest spread aggressively through TikTok was not supported only by B***n. Many leaders and social notables, including Maoist President Prachanda, supported it. Yet B***n did not step onto the streets to march with the angry crowds.
As of the time of writing, he has not visited the families of the martyrs or the injured. From a dark corner, however, he pulled the political “fruit” of the Gen-Z movement toward himself. Many have begun to call him a “Chanakya.”
Did a leader who had not led on the streets hold the movement’s command? Although he is the metropolitan mayor, he does not habitually meet and discuss with people in neighborhoods or across the metropolis except at formal ceremonies. Facebook is his speaking platform. Even there he writes statuses, he does not speak on video.
He writes anarchy-tinged and irresponsible words in rude and irresponsible language. He does not give interviews to journalists or the city’s residents. He does not face interviews or questions. He even installed a separate lift for himself at the office and generally does not meet ordinary people who wish to see him. How did B***n, content within a small enclosure, take the reins of such a large movement?
The answer lies in the “B***n” image, not in the person B***n Shah as mayor or individual. The “ninja technique” of making a lie true in the public mind by repeating it a thousand times is often compared to Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister. In fact, the progenitor of this propaganda theory was the American thinker Edward Bernays. It is believed that, with the CIA’s direct involvement, U.S. rulers used Bernays’s theory to stage coups and regime changes in many Latin American countries.
From the time of the metropolitan election, therefore, B***n Shah’s personal background was skillfully obscured and the “B***n” image was projected. Until recently, his sunglassed photo appeared on buses, cars, and shop signs. That brand has now broken. The Gen-Z movement has placed him in a clearly defined political camp.
B***n, who wrote on Facebook “I will set fire to Singha Durbar” or “I will bury it in the Tukucha River,” is now trapped in his own words. Singha Durbar was indeed set on fire, and dozens were cruelly burned. His linkage to the movement emerged from Facebook into the seat of power at Singha Durbar. In reality, once Om Prakash Aryal, his legal adviser at the metropolis, became Home Minister, the political scene became clear.
This situation did not arise without political craft and planning. It was Om Prakash who, on the morning of 10 September, brought former Chief Justice Sushila Karki onto the streets in support of the movement. Was that a clever public branding of a future prime ministerial image? When Gen-Z youth who did not know most ordinary people were gathering on Discord, was the image of a prime minister projected in their minds in advance? When the backbone of the state was being burned, to whom did B***n issue the “orders” to dissolve Parliament and talk to the Army Chief?
When the state was in ruins, was it mere coincidence that Aryal played the role of escorting a group of Gen-Z representatives into Army Headquarters, where the Army Chief held opaque talks while keeping the President out of sight? From there, Karki’s name was proposed, and the former Chief Justice, known as an epitome of integrity, began giving interviews to Indian media without taking time to reflect. Was that also mere coincidence?
When public questions arose about the role of Army Headquarters, the venue was shifted to the Presidential Palace, Sheetal Niwas, yet the dissolution of Parliament had still not been finalized. Because the earlier group of Gen-Z “brothers and sisters” did not accept the “B***n agenda” of dissolving Parliament, Sudhan Gurung was suddenly thrust forward as a Gen-Z leader, and Aryal brought him into the talks as well. Through a President under constraint, both demands were finally met. An interim government was formed, Parliament was dissolved, and Aryal was appointed Home Minister.
In this way, B***n’s so-called “independent” image became overtly political. After seizing the political design of the Gen-Z movement, it is no longer credible to say “I will not claim ownership.” B***n must now present openly before the people his political vision, his understanding of the Constitution, and his organization. Otherwise, it will not take long for him to be proven a plotter rather than a designer.
The Stream of Ideology
The Gen-Z movement had no clear ideological outlook. As a result, anyone, from anywhere, could claim to be its leader. Even when demanding the dissolution of Parliament, the movement had no clear agenda or architecture of a dream. There was only anger, discontent, and disgust toward the parties. Someone placed a gun on their shoulders and devastated the state, making a poor country even poorer.
The political system and the Constitution were driven to a deathly state. With the formation of the interim government, the country entered a vortex of great uncertainty, distrust, and instability. The people and society are in no position to feel assured that everything will be fine tomorrow.
To recognize this situation, to trace the path that led here, and to seek direction for the future, ideology is most necessary. That is now clear. After being branded as villains among the people, the parties are also speaking of restructuring themselves. What guarantee is there that party restructuring will not again be based on age rather than ideology? Or, if disillusionment with existing parties persists and new dreams must be seen anew, progress cannot be made without a new framework of thought.
Those who wish to take on this responsibility, should they sit scrolling on their phones, or should they turn to study and research? If we are to change the economic policies the state has adopted so far and the relationship it has established with society, should we work with the people, or treat the party’s closed room as the whole world?
How will we address the anxieties of thousands of other Gen-Z youth who feel that, in the name of the Gen-Z movement, their own agency and rights are being lost to a group that gathers at a set time on a gaming app called Discord? There is a pervasive belief that Kathmandu dictates to the entire country, and that this old tradition is continuing even in the name of this movement.
Those who claim the movement’s mandate must also take on the task of addressing that discontent. How will the movement’s mandate be spread among the country’s youth? Without ideology, without agendas, without a program to transform the character of the state, what will happen, and what will change?
If any change is to come on the strength of the Gen-Z movement, it will come through the flow of ideology. If someone harbors the folly that change will come by following technical or administrative tradition with minor tweaks, they should learn from the current condition of the parties. It is already clear that the complete reins of the Gen-Z movement have passed into someone else’s hands.
The suspicion that the Constitution and the democratic republic are the ones in danger is generating fear among a large section of the oppressed and suppressed. If this is a time of crisis, it should yield a new ideological direction. If there is an attempt to offer technocratic solutions, the burden of dissolving Parliament and endangering the Constitution will appear very heavy.
Better to speak the truth at the outset. Swallowing words, spreading despair among one another with doubts and anger, and then, once everything is clear, painting social media with that anger and planting a poisonous tree in the world’s mind, that is what has brought us to this misery. When even traffic management on the roads fails, we see anger expressed in the same way at chaos and at the President’s convoy stuck in a traffic jam. The uncertainty, suspicion, and disorder now visible in society cannot, without an ideological framework, find a creative way forward on their own.
